Plant of the Year Trophy Presented

03/01/2012 | Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

The POWER Plant of the Year for 2011 was Kansas City Power & Light’s 850-MW Iatan 2, located about 30 miles northwest of Kansas City. The utility’s first new coal plant in nearly 30 years entered commercial service in August 2010, just in time to meet the summer peak load. (For details on the project, see “KCP&L’s Iatan 2 Earns POWER’ s Highest Honor” in the August 2011 issue or our archives at http://www.powermag.com.)

Presentation of the trophy to the staff of Iatan 2 was initially delayed by regional flooding of the Missouri River in late June, which forced staff to put 10 miles of sandbags in place to protect the plant. During that time, employees were brought to work via boat, as parking lots were flooded. For a period, coal deliveries via railroad were suspended, reducing the typical 50-day supply stored on plant property to just a few days’ supply. Despite these challenges, the plant continued to operate without incident.

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